


When Camaraderie Becomes Passion

by Nathaliafl123



Series: A Fantasy on Four Parts [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, Dorks in Love, F/F, F/M, Fluff, M/M, My Sister's Story, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-06
Updated: 2014-08-27
Packaged: 2018-01-23 18:18:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1574990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nathaliafl123/pseuds/Nathaliafl123
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jean's POV. High School AU fanfic full of fluff, no sex (due to my sister's 'innocence'), and a bit of angst later on. Be prepared.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dorks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Jean is a dislike-er of Eren. Lots of introduction info

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is actually my younger sister's writing. She really wanted to write a Jean/Marco fanfic and I told her "DO IT" and she did. Hope you all like it! :3 (sorry for the bad formatting, this is my first AO3 post)

An announcement has sounded throughout the classroom of Trost High and I now find myself plunged deep into thought as I follow the mesh of students all to the auditorium for a rally. And, I am thinking:  
“How the heck am I going to get back at Eren Jaegar for calling me a horse-faced idiot?”  
This is how I, Jean Good-for-nothing-hottie-mc-hotterson Kirstein, normally start my day because, after the three years that I’ve known the little prick, I’ve still yet to get back at him from our meeting. It went a little like this on the first day of ninth grade in homeroom:  
“Hello there. I guess we’re going to be sitting next to each other for now, “I said, even though I already despised him, “My name’s Jean Kirstein. What’s yours?”  
I flopped out my hand for a handshake, one that I’d purposely make firm so that I’d be able to crush his hand in the process.  
The evil troll turned his face toward me and gave me a glare as he brutally rejected any communication with “Don’t you dare even look at me or try to pretend with me, you horse-faced idiot. I’m not going to be your friend, you lazy-ass.”  
Ever since then, Eren has been the horror of my high school life.  
That day, humanity remembered how much of a total jerk Eren Jaegar could be.  
That’s when I realize that I have lost my homeroomies of Js and Ks and find myself, strangely, with the As, Bs, and Cs. Unlike the back portion of the swarming children, the front is orderly and led by none-other than the famous and radiant Mikasa Ackerman.  
Ever since that day humanity remembers, Mikasa has become a ray of warm sunshine in my sad, cold life.  
I met her and Armin Arlet in the cafeteria on the first day of ninth grade. Armin is a pretty cool and intelligent guy, and Mikasa is a hot, skilled mama. She has first period woodshop with me and always makes perfect birdhouses, whereas whatever I make always ends up in the backyard alright, but in my mom’s backyard wood chipper.  
Armin, Mikasa, and Eren all are childhood friends and moved here three years ago from Shiganshina City. Some dramatic incident happened, heaven knows what, and they all became orphans, moving to the Wandrosette Orphanage for Teens. I totally feel horrible for the magnificent, raven-haired maiden and the blond, blue-eyed gentleman, but I don’t care for Eren’s sadness because he’s got his great friends surrounding him (*ahem* NOT ME).  
When I appear back into reality, I’m walking right next to the school’s favorite Potato Girl, Sasha Blouse. She’s walking next to Connie Springer (who lost his spot in with the Rs and Ss??), the class clown who literally understands his stupidity. They’re laughing with each other like they’re having a grand time and then I feel a sudden surge of jealousy and anxiousness to get away from them.  
Ugh. Those Springles. We already know that they’re going to get married and live far away from here, happily ever after. It’s fate.  
Unexpectedly, two hands reach from behind me and leave me in a world of darkness. I halt my motion.  
“Krista? Is that you?” I say as a sweet, little girl sweeps her hands off from my eyes.  
“How did you know?” the blond angel chimes. She is in most of my classes, as we have similar brain power. Also is her personal ‘bodyguard’ (who is truly like one, rather than a friend!), Ymir, who appears out of nowhere and grabs Krista away and gives me a death glare. I hear Ymir innocently say “Why don’t you marry me, Krista?” and then I tune out the world for a moment.  
I tend to daze off and have moments of nothingness, and then I jolt back into reality and forget whatever it was that I was doing. I could have a moment in the middle of a test and then find myself back into reality and the teacher has already collected the exam. Hell, sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night screaming because I have forgotten what my name is or I realize that I have left my backpack at school. I think it could be a diagnosed paranoia, but I never had it checked. My mom just says, “You’re a teenager, Jean-Boy! You’ll have moments where you forget things and daydream; just always remember to come back to reality!”  
When my episode is over, I’m sitting on the bleachers in the auditorium of Trost High. Everyone is settled in and the Student Council is just about to begin the rally. We always start our monthly rallies with our brief alma mater and the pep squad and the band perform.  
Everyone stands as we all say in unison (with our right fists over our hearts and our left fists between our shoulder blades):  
“Seid ihr das Essen? Nein, wir sind der Jäger!”  
We all sit back down as our mascot called “自由　の　翼 (Jiyuu no Tsubasa, Wings of Freedom) the Eagle” dances around the auditorium floor to the beat of drums, the band, and alongside the pep squad that includes Annie Leonhart, the cold-hearted and quiet Shorty that listens to any rock band that she can get her hands onto. Reiner Braun, the jock-like band geek that I fear is only there because his boyfriend, the sweet, real band geek, Bertholdt Hoover, is. Reiner, Annie, and Bertholdt are childhood friends that you wouldn’t think are friends because they’re all so different from each other. Annie has a nose piercing, Bertholdt is shy and wears sweater vests, and Reiner constantly writes “Mrs. Reiner Hoover” all over his math homework. They are nicknamed “The Titans” because of their inseparability and differences and some other reason which I can’t seem to recall.  
And then there’s freckle-faced, constantly-blushing-around-me Marco Bodt, whom I met when he moved here three years ago. We are direct neighbors and best friends. For some reason, he is sitting directly across from me on the other bleachers with Eren Jaegar and the rest of the Js and Ks. Eren elbows him when he notices me and Marco stops looking about frantically and catches my eyes. He then becomes nervous, waves at me, and then goes on to play with a catch on his uniform.  
He and I are such bike-riding dorks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am writing a fanfic nearly parallel to this one in Eren's point of view (ErenxLevi fanfic) if anyone wants to read it! Might take time to update both because we write them on paper first since we have easier access to our notebooks. Thanks for the patience :)


	2. Biking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Jean reminisces on about his daily life and joys.

After the rally is over, I race over to my third period Pre-Calculus class and jump into my seat. I patiently wait for everyone to file into the classroom and the teacher brings up the rear. I feel happy now, because I get to see Eren suffer.

“Eren!!!!” Mr. Heichou yells the instant the bell rings.

Eren sits right up front, directly next to Mr. Heichou’s desk so that he can be sure that Eren’s day is ruined right there. Eren is horrible at math, so that adds to the list of reasons why Mr. Heichou would want to ruin his day.

Eren flinches when Mr. Heichou grabs the sides of his desk and yells in his face, “Did you not study for the last test?! You missed more than half of the questions! For punishment, you shall go to the boy’s restroom around the corner and clean the toilets with this toothbrush! And they must be spotless!!! Do I make myself clear?!” Mr. Heichou shoves the toothbrush into his hands and Eren stands and rushes out saluting, “Yes, sir!” Mr. Heichou kicks Eren’s ass as he jumps out the door, and he slams the door shut.

Mr. Heichou only treats Eren in this “special way,” so we as a class are not afraid of our short and weird teacher. “Open your textbooks to page 394 and do practice problems 1 through 10 for the next seven minutes, and then we’ll continue on to today’s lesson.”

I do so and look around after I finish problem 6, already bored. I see Reiner next to me already doodling all over his math notes drawings of his dearest. He’s actually pretty good at math, and his art isn’t horrible, too. Then, Mina Carolina, a cute girl with black pigtails who I don’t talk to that much, passes by me on her way to her seat. She’s pretty good friends with Annie and Marco. She’s also in cheer. Someone pokes me from behind and I turn around to see blond-haired, gold-eyed Thomas Wagner.

“Do you get number 3?” he asks as he nervously rubs the back of his neck.

“Yeah,” I answer. “You need help?”

~

After a fourth period of AP Language lectures, I’m just about ready to call my mom to come and pick me up, but then I remember that we have lunch right now, a time for students to interact, eat, and forget about school for a moment.

On my way to my usual secluded table, I pass by the Springles, and they’re already gorging down on their food. I continue onward and see the Titans; Annie is ignoring her cafeteria food and is instead resting with some My Chemical Romance, and Reiner is trying to spoon some food down Bertholdt’s throat, even though the child is trying hard to practice his alto saxophone for his sixth period band.

I keep my head high and away when I pass by the Shiganshina kids so that I don’t embarrass myself in front of Mikasa and Armin and so that I don’t sneer at Eren in front of them. I almost feel bad for him; the baby smells like he’s been having parties in the boy’s bathroom. I chuckle to myself again for what happened in that glorious third period.

Finally, I arrive at my destined spot and I settle into my chair. I take my lunch out of my backpack and bring the lunchbox on the table.

“So, what do you have today?” Marco asks me when he sits next to me with his cafeteria gruel.

I open the box and am greeted with an omelet, cooked with love by my dear mom, that is decorated with a ketchup smiley face.

“Just another one of my mom’s omelets,” I groan with false bitterness.

Marco laughs brightly and then says that I always finish them, anyway.

“Hmph! Only because I don’t want food to go to waste,” I reply. “What about you? Eat, already!”

“Ughh..,” Marco overexaggerates as he pushes away his food like it’s disease-ridden. “I’m not hungry.”

“But how do you expect to get any taller if you don’t eat?” I say as I poke im in the gut repeatedly, extremely childishly. “You have nothing in this thing!”

“Stop, Jean! Fine! Fine! I’ll eat!”

I grin when Marco admits defeat and shovels some mystery meat into his mouth. He grimaces as he swallows and then says, “Happy?”

I smile. “Very.”

He sighs and pouts, twisting his plastic fork around in the meal. He looks so pathetic and I feel bad, so the next thing I do is grab the fork out of his hand and plunge it into my omelet. I slide the lunchbox over to him. I fold my arms on the table and rest the right side of my head onto them. I look at Marco’s startled face.

“Eat,” I tell him.

He furrows his brow, looks at the tempting omelet, then back at me. “But it’s your food. You don’t want it?”

I shrug. “It’s okay. My mom stuffs me up after school anyway. I used to be a chubby blob, but then I stretched, and now I’m this. Eat; you need it more than I do.” I motion my head toward the cafeteria crap.

Marco stammers, “Thank y-you.”

I watch him pick up the fork and slice a piece of omelet and stab into it. I’m lost in watching as the omelet is met by a slightly open mouth, a part of my best friend that I thought was one of the good points on him, like his freckles sprinkled all over his skin and his slim wrists. Also his button nose, the way it scrunches up when he’s about to sneeze.

Marco closes his mouth over the omelet bite and pulls the fork away from his lips. I watch his jaw shift as he chews and then his neck as the bite is swallowed, down his throat. Marco smiles.

“Your mom makes delicious omelets,” he says to me, but I’m already lost in another daze.

When I’m back, Marco hands me my lunchbox that’s completely empty. “Thanks,” he grins, “it was great.”

“No problem,” I say just before the bell rings to start heading to fifth period. I stuff the box into my bag. “See you later,” I wave as I leave to Ms. Hanji’s Chemistry class with my backpack slung over my shoulder.

Marco gives me a salute and dashes off.

~

“So, where’s Armin, Connie?” I ask as I start up some good ol’ volleyball practice by stretching. I hold a good tricep pull for 40 seconds and later switch. I’m already in uniform, a very sexy uniform on me, I might add, walking right out of the locker room with one-half of Springles.

“I don’t know, he has AP Calc BC for fifth period, remember?” Connie replies.

“What are you guys talking about?” Thomas says as he comes over from the locker room with Mylius Zeramuski, a nice guy that is average height and has silvery hair. He, Thomas, Mina, Nac Tius (who’s on the water polo team with Jaegar), Franz and Hannah (who are the senior’s No. 1 power couple and frankly make me annoyed) are always with each other; they’re all great friends and have known each other for a long time.

We get to the volleyball courts and stretch when then I realize that Marco is not here, too.

“Maybe Mr. Detergent kept his entire fifth period class after the bell,” I say as someone’s hands cover my eyes.

I pause. Everything is silent. This person is stealthy in this action; I can’t even hear his/her breathing.

“Who is this?” I dare.

No answer.

“Is this Krista?”

No normal giggle erupts.

“Sasha?”

Nothing.

“Armin? Mina? Bertholdt? Reiner? Annie?” I try.

Still nothing.

And then it hits me. The answer was so obvious that I didn’t get it. This person’s soft hands and stealthiness are some of the things that I like most about him.

I lick Marco’s right hand and he quickly unveils my eyes. There he stands behind me, rubbing his hand on his uniform (that doesn’t look bad on him, either) and blushing. I notice Armin just exiting the locker room.

“R-really, Jean,” Marco sighs, sounding a little disheveled.

I laugh and say, “Hey, you brought it upon yourself.”

He pouts.

“So, why are you two late?” I ask as Marco and Armin start to stretch. I get disturbed when Connie disrupts his stretching and stands behind Armin in a “DAT ASS” pose. He quickly takes out his phone and takes a selfie, and I’m pretty sure sends it to Sasha. Gosh, those two are dumber than a sack of potatoes.

And, just as I had predicted earlier, they say, “Mr. Heichou kept us after class because we had to clean our desks with disinfectant.”

“Also, I had to tell Eren something for him,” Armin adds.

I laugh. Probably to clean the other guy’s restrooms.

“I get to serve!” I say as we start to begin our game. My team consists of Marco and Armin, while the other team is Connie, Thomas, and Mylius.

“Are you guys ready to be defeated?!” I say, feeling awesome-as-ever.

“Only if I get to shove my moon boots right up your poop shoot, Kirstein!” Connie says, roaring with laughter. Marco flinches at the strange words that only make me feel more motivated to kicking Connie’s sorry little behind to the other side of the globe.

“Here I go!” I shout as I send the volleyball up and over the net. Thomas sets it and Mylius bumps it over the net again. Armin bumps it in response, and then Marco uses his amazing spike and earns us our first point. Connie makes a “grr” face and trudges over to get the ball.

“Nice!” I go over to Marco and give him a high-five. He gingerly answers my request. His sweaty palm meets mine and the high-five seems to be one split-second too long.

“C’mon, princesses! Take your positions!” Connie snaps me back to reality. Thomas serves and sends the volley ball over toward Marco (who’s actually not looking!).

“Marco!” I shout right before he turns his head in my way and gets hit square in the face with the ball. He crashes to the ground from the force.

“Marco!” I yell as I rush over to him. “Are you alright?” I crouch down to help him up.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he sighs. The right side of his face is red from the impact.

“Armin, can you dash off to the nurse and get him an ice pack?” I ask. Armin nods and runs to the nurse’s office. Connie, Thomas, and Mylius come over and see that Marco’s okay, so they continue the game by themselves. Armin comes back with the ice pack moments later, breathless. I say thanks and Armin nods and jumps back into the game.

Meanwhile, I’m making sure Marco has no broken bones.

“Seriously, Jean! I’m fine! Really!” Marco assures. I look at him. We lock eyes. Marco insantly erupts in hues of pink blush and breaks the staring contest. I touch his right cheek. He flinches.

“We can head home, if you want. Nothing important’s today, anyway,” I soothe. Marco gently swipes away my hand from his face (how long has that been there?!) and nods.

“Sure. Okay,” he says. I hand him the ice pack, and he places it up to his face.

I smile. “Let’s take my bike.”

~

I pull my bike from the school’s bike rack. Marco and I changed out of our volleyball uniforms and instintively came here.

“So, where is your bike?” I ask Marco.

“It, uhm, has a flat tire, so it’s at home. I’ve recently been taking the bus.”

I pat the bag rack behind my bike seat. “Hop on!”

Marco does so and then I jump on, too. Just as I’m about to start biking, Marco gasps.

“What is it?” I ask, genuinely concerned.

“Uhm…I forgot to ask Mr. Heichou a crucial Calc question, but I guess I’ll figure it out on my own,” he answers, innocently.

“Well, what are you doing here? Go on ahead, I’ll wait for you.”

“Positive?” Marco questions with a cute (did I just say cute?!) furrow in his brow.

I nod. “Positive.”

I watch as Marco runs off towards Mr. Heichou’s hellish classroom. I slip off my bike, set it back in the racks, and pop a squat next to them.

Then, the fog rolls in and I’m lost once again in a daydream. Shall I briefly describe this daydream? Sure, what the hell.

I am in a forest of big-ass trees. I feel a sensation like I’m flying. I am wearing heavy, strange gear around my waist that’s causing me to “fly” from tree to tree. Two blades accompany my hands as I soar.

Before I wake up, I glimpse the profile of giant that is grinning creepily. I see that its massive teeth are stained crimson.

“Jean?” Marco gently shakes my shoulder. “You there? You look…terrified.”

My heart is racing and I haven’t noticed the clamminess of my sweaty palms.

“It’s o-okay,” I stammer. “Nothing but a bad dream. Did you ask ‘His Royal Shortness’ your question?”

His face turns pale. He quickly recovers by replying, “Yeah.”

I shrug. “Then let’s go. Do you wanna buy some manga? I was thinking of going to Barnes & Nobles on the way home.”

He enlightens. “Sure! I wanted to get this new book by Rick Riordan.”

With that, we ride to Barnes & Nobles, continuing our act of friendly small talk. I can’t help but notice the way Marco won’t meet my eyes when I look back at him, or how he’s gently leaning on my back, or how he’s just so freakin’ close to me.

But….I don’t mind it. Is that wrong?

~

“Jean?” Marco asks as we get back on my bike from the bookstore. We didn’t buy anything (because we both neglected our wallets this morning and had forgotten) and just looked. Turns out Marco’s book doesn’t come out until October and Ymir was just playing a joke on him.

“Hm?” I ask as I begin to pedal nd jump onto the bike lane.

Marco runs one hand through his hair as his other grips the edge of the bag rack. I think he grins, too, but I’m sort of keeping my focus on the road ahead.

“Don’t you think it feels great to be free like this?”

We swiftly turn around a corner and glide through the slight autumn breeze. Like in my daydream, it feels like we’re flying. I pedal faster, jump to standing on the pedals, and whoop, shouting “Here’s to never growin’ up!” Marco laughs childishly and sets his head back. I get back on my seat.

We begin to slow as I close in on Marco’s quaint home. It’s a 2-story house that seems to loom over to one side: the side with my home. Mine is also 2-stories high, although it looks much smaller, and less…lonely, and empty?

As I stop my bike at the curb, Marco asks, “Do you want to come over for a bit?”

My heart thuds in my chest strangely. “A-ah, I’ll ask my mom first. Give me a minute.”

He nods.

I rush my bike over to my house. My chest still feels like a horse rammed into it. I fumble for my keys and unlock the front door. I walk into the simple foyer and leave my bike by my shoes.

“Momma? I’m home,” I call into the house.

“Jean-boy! My baby!” My mom charges right into me. “Where have you been?”

“Uhm, it’s only, like, 4 o’clock,” I answer, embarassed.

“Well, it’s starting to get darker day by day now! You can’t be out so late now, Jean-boy!” Momma chides.

“Right, right-,” my mom abruptly plants a kiss on my forehead, “Ah! Anyway, can I go over to Marco’s? He invited me.”

My mom smiles knowingly. “Sure, sure!”

“Okay, then. I’ll see you at dinner,” I say as I head out the door.

“Bye-bye, honey!” she chimes.

Ugh. I’m such a momma’s-boy.

I get to Marco’s porch and then knock our “knock-of-friendship” on his door. He opens the door, changed into an oversized shirt and casual sweatpants. He hands me a pair of sweatpants and an oversized T as well.

“Yeah! Time for Zumba!” I cheer. Marco sighs, but smiles, too.

Did I forget to mention that, next to biking, Zumba on the Wii is also extremely enjoyable to us?


End file.
